POLL: United States Postal Service Proposes Budget Cuts

The United States Postal Service is planning deep cuts to first class mail services in order to stave off bankruptcy, this according to the Huffington Post. The USPS is facing potential deficits of 14 billion dollars in fiscal year 2012. The USPS hasn’t been profitable for 5 years and now faces default on a $5.5 billion annual payment to the Treasury for retiree health benefits.

The proposed 3-billion-dollar budget slashes will change many ways that the USPS does business, include the time it takes to deliver letters and packages. As of now, approximately 99 percent of mail is delivered in 1 to 3 days, with about 42 percent being delivered the next day. Projected changes would see about half of all mail being delivered after two days.

Another change offered by the cuts would aim to close 3,700 local post offices around the U.S. This means that one or more of Chelmsford’s three post offices could be threatened by the closings. The 3,700 closed offices would also result in the potential layoff of 100,000 postal employees. The United States Postal Service also anticipates the closing of half of the 500 mail processing centers in the United States.

Other ways that Chelmsford residents may be affected by the changes are the increases in shipping rates and the delays in shipping windows. According to the article, prescription drugs, newspaper, and Netflix DVD deliveries are just some of the potential victims of these changes.

In an effort to trim expenses, the USPS is also planning to reduce delivery to 5 days per week and bump the cost of postage to 45 cents. While the postage increase is slated to take effect Jan. 22, the closings and changes to the delivery week must wait for an advisory hearing from the Postal Regulatory Commission. The advisory hearing is just that: advisory only. The USPS, an independent government agency, receives no tax subsidies, but can have large operational changes controlled by Congress. Apparently, the changes to first-class mail services do not fall within this category.

"The things I have control over here at the Postal Service, we have to do," said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe in the Huffington Post article. "If we do nothing, we will have a death spiral."

In a down economy, everyone suffers. These postal changes will not only mean that delivery rates will likely go up, but that the same letter will take longer to reach its destination. In the future, take this into account when sending out greeting and birthday cards, provided the USPS does enact its sweeping reforms.

Read the full article here.